Introduction

Biography Sketch

Scope and Content

Inventory

Introduction

This collection was acquired by the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in 1975.

Biographical Sketch

Carl Rakeman, a professional artist, was born in Washington, D.C. to Joseph and Eva Rakeman in 1878. He was commissioned in Paris and at the Royal Academy in Munich. Rakeman also did artwork in the United States Senate Building in Washington, D.C. In 1913, on the recommendation of E. E. Andrews, Rakeman was commissioned to copy the official Daniel Huntington portraits of President Rutherford B. and Lucy Webb Hayes for the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. He later received commissions from Colonel Webb C. Hayes and Fremont, Ohio, residents. In 1919, Rakeman married Linda Hineline, daughter of William Hineline of Sandusky County, Ohio.

In 1922, Rakeman was employed as an artist by the Bureau of Public Roads, a division of the Department of Agriculture. He created the thirty-five paintings depicted as the Highways of History series for the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco in 1939. The series was later displayed at the World’s Fair. He also exhibited with the Bureau at the Brazilian Exposition (1922), the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial (1926), Paris Overseas Exposition (1931), Chicago Century of Progress (1933), and the Dallas Centennial Exposition (1936). In 1952, he retired from the Bureau of Public Roads and within a few years moved to Fremont, Ohio. He died in Fremont on Feb. 21, 1965. Linda Rakeman died in 1978.

Scope and Content

The collection, spanning the years from 1908 to 1962, is primarily composed of black and white and color photographic prints of the paintings Rakeman created for Highways of History exhibit. Also included are family photographs, biographical information on Carl Rakeman, correspondence from Linda Rakeman, and publications associated with Rakeman’s exhibits and artwork.

Inventory

179 items

Box 1

Biographical Information

Joseph and Carl Rakeman, Biographical Informattion (Library of Congress)

Linda Rakeman Correspondence, 1975 – 1978

Federal Highway Commission Publication, 1975 – 1976

Highways of History, 1939

“Carl Rakeman Artist,” (material from Hayes Presidential Center collections)

Miscellaneous material (Ac. 2277 and Ac. 2283)

Artwork

Bureau of Public Roads Exhibit – 1922 – 1929

Bureau of Public Roads Exhibit – 1931 - 1937

Bureau of Public Roads Exhibit – 1938 – 1952

Box 2

Family Photographs

Photographs of artwork (not Rakeman’s )

Paintings – color photographs #1

Paintings – color photographs #2

Paintings – black and white photographs #1

Paintings – black and white photographs #2

Highways of History Exhibit – 1976 (color photographic prints)

American Road Builders Convention, Chicago, 1948 (black and white photographic print)